Textual Analysis Of Apollo

Brandon Martinez Jennifer Penkethman English 1A 17 October 2015

Apollo has Landed

In our culture advertisements for personal hygiene products are very common. Whether they advertise shampoo, whitening toothpaste, or antiperspirant deodorant, they are constantly selling new trends in personal care and beauty. Suggesting that there is this high value that our society places on physical appearance. Although traditionally brands and products of this nature have been targeted at women, we are now seeing an increase of advertisements that seek to reach the male consumer. Companies like AXE, which is a brand of male grooming products, is marketed towards

Men are often depicted as someone who is not afraid to face danger head on as well as not showing emotions. This specific advertisement illustrates how a stereotypical man acts. We have a male lifeguard who through his binocular sees a woman in dire need of help. He quickly reacts to the situation and runs to save her. He jumps into the ocean and swims toward the shark that is about to attack this woman. With his bare hands he punches the shark in the nose and caries the woman to shore. What this advertisement suggests is that a man is willing to go through any obstacle to save a woman’s life. Not only with will a man save her from danger but will also provide for her survival. In addition machismo is highly portrayed in the ad when the man punches the shark showing his power over nature. His action does not only affect the way men are seen but also the way the way there expected to look. The male actor himself is physically built his muscles are shown throughout the advertisement illustrating that all men are supposed to look strong and fit. The main reason why companies sexualized men and women in advertisements is to sell their products and leaving the consumer thinking about their self-image. In the essay “What We Are to Advertisers” by James B. Twithchell states “Mass production means mass marketing, and mass marketing means the creation of mass stereotypes”(177). What Twithchell is suggesting is that to

He comes into the scene once the woman has already been saved. The camera then goes into slow motion as the astronaut, almost heroically, is walking towards the lady. Without saying thank you to the lifeguard she leaves him to see the astronaut. Once they come together he removes his helmet and the words come onto the screen saying “Nothing Beats and Astronaut”. The astronaut signifies the ultimate occupation for a man to hold, but also showing his intelligent. AXE is suggesting that anyone can obtain the ultimate occupation by using the new product. We live culture that is always fantasying. For instance Jack Solomon himself writes“ by reading the signs of American advertising, we can conclude that America is a nation of fantasizers, …easily enthralled by a veritable Fantasy Island of commercial illusions”(170). I agree that we have become a nation of “fantasizers” we see advertisements everywhere we go. I would be lying I did not wish to lived the lives the actors portray in the advertisements. Companies create this illusion that we can have that life if we buy the product. We become captivated with the illusion that we buy certain products hoping that it will change our life for the